Starcraft II - Wings of Liberty Collector's Edition
It took me how long to finally do the photoshoot I wanted to do? So lol, this is horrendously late but whatever, I have to do it now and get it uploaded cause :).My signed copy of the box set with awesome sigs. Wheeeee
DECENTRALISED CONSCIOUSNESS
Virtual Valentine
Virtual Valentine
Pomegranate and rose water, coconut and orange blossom water jelly - raspberry sorbet - mint - pistachio crumbs
This is its own post as it really does deserve it. I thought up this dish a few days before Valentine's Day, and really did want a themed dessert. It had to be red and romance-worthy. Hence, it had to have pomegranates because I was in excess of it, and roses. I originally wanted flowers on the plate too, however after doing some research, I didn't want to risk consuming pesticides that would be harmful from buying roses meant as Valentine's Day gifts.
This was my final challenge since I leave Adelaide soon. It's my most epic success yet as everything was made from scratch and done by hand. No ice cream machines, no blenders. As it actually worked, plus it's a dessert so by default, I've kept an ingredient list so that one day, it can be replicated.
Jelly:
Like the above, the gelatine was dissolved in boiling water, and the coconut water heated separately. Orange blossom water was added, and then the finely chopped coconut was added until it looked like a good mix. I actually had a coconut when I thought this recipe up, but for the sake of not having to strain out random coconut bits and to maintain clarity of jelly, I cheated and used bottled coconut water. Would have had the same result, really :P. I kept swirling the mixture in the fridge every now and again, until the solution was starting to set - once the coconut pieces suspended rather than floated, I poured it onto the pomegranate layer. This also meant that the liquid was not hot enough to melt the pomegranate layer.Mint leaves were added at this point for an extra layer of visuals ad flavour. At this stage of jellification the mint leaves could still be pushed to the bottom of the coconut later, so they set perfectly in the middle.
Once fully set, I cut them into rough squares, so that one mint leaf was in each square. Due to the shape of the bottom of these containers, I also had to trim the uneven pomegranate bottom so that each piece was flat.
Sorbet:
Raspberry sorbet
Crumbs:
Pistachio crumb
Reine's cooking adventures part 2
I love mussels, so when I found some at another seafood store, I was YES PLEASE. I didn't even know how much to get, so I started with 250g. Turns out this is about 11-12 mussels, and never enough! However when I was reading up on how to cook them, I also grabbed a baguette and butter as a side.I had found a few different liquids suggested, and ended up choosing water first, with some butter. I did make one afterwards with white wine, but funnily enough I preferred the one with water.
When I stumbled across zucchini flowers, wow, I was so filled with creative inspiration that I HAD to buy them. So expensive, but so fantastic that I couldn't resist. I had eaten stuffed flowers at two restaurants, which was not only very appealing, but also very tasty. My favourite was when they were stuffed with crab meat. MMmmmmm!
So, since I didn't want to overdo anything that would kill my budget, I decided I'd make a herb and cheese stuffing instead. So, I bought some ricotta, avocado, goat curd, chives, parsley, pepitas and sunflower seeds. I chopped and toasted the seeds before mixing them in. Cleaning the flowers was tricky at first, but then I learned how to handle them and managed to clean and stuff efficiently.
I also always need protein in my meals, so I opted for salmon as my accompaniment. It was only after I plated just the flowers and the salmon that I filled in the middle with leftover salad, to make it look complete.
It was so pretty and tasty, I declared myself amazing at cooking! And presentation.
